Technology development to evaluate dose rate distribution in PCV and to search for fuel debris submerged in water

The Great East Japan earthquake off the pacific coast of Tohoku was the most powerful recorded earthquake ever to hit Japan and triggered powerful tsunami waves. These inundated the coast including the area of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The flooding that followed disabled the auxiliary cooling systems at the power plant which, although being shut down, caused the reactors to overheat as a result of the effect of decay heat. This resulted in core damage to 3 of the 6 reactors on the Fukushima site. The damage is strongly suspected to have resulted in fragmentation of the nuclear fuel inside the reactors themselves and thus they are inoperable and need to be decommissioned. A key task is the removal of the nuclear fuel from the reactors. Once this is removed and stored safely elsewhere, radiation levels will fall significantly rendering the plant much safer than at present which will enable the remaining decommissioning requirements of the plant to continue more quickly, easily and with reduced cost.

However, the fuel debris cannot be removed until we know how much there is and the form it has adopted after the accident i.e. is it a molten lump confined to the reactor or a mixture of damaged fuel elements with some egress beyond the primary containment? The reason we need to know this information is that it is essential that the likelihood of re-criticality is assessed (the chance that the nuclear fission reaction could start up inadvertently when the debris is disturbed) and also that we know of the extent of radioactivity and the form it is in in order to plan disposal routes. This information is very difficult to obtain because the type of reactor affected at Fukushima operated in what is known as a primary containment vessel or PCV. This is a large, thick-sided steel tank that is bolted shut very securely. A PCV has only a few, narrow access routes by which it is possible to get inside. There is no light inside and in order to set the reactor into a safe state and maintain its cooling, each reactor at Fukushima has been flooded with sea water. As a result of the radioactivity from the fuel there are very high levels of radiation exposure which prevent human beings from getting near to the PCV, whilst access to the PCV would result in serious injury to people and could damage untested instrumentation. The water filling the PCVs further complicates matters but, for the timebeing, cannot be removed as it acts to cool the fuel debris and to shield the surrounding area from radiation emitted by the reactor.

In this project we combine two world-leading research activities in the United Kingdom associated with the portable detection of radioactivity (Lancaster University) and the development of small, submersible remote-operated vehicles (Manchester) in collaboration with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the National Maritime Research Institute of Japan, BeamSeiko Instrument Co. Ltd (Tokyo) and the Nagaoka University of Technology. The key objective of the research is to determine whether we can combine these capabilities to produce a remote-operated submersible vehicle with a radiation detection payload to detect neutrons and gamma rays. This device will be either mobile in the PCV, and thus able to inform us of the distribution of fuel debris in the reactor, or tethered in place in order to provide a continual indication of the core state; neither capability currently exists and clean-up of the reactors cannot continue without an assessment of this type. The distinction of the neutron and gamma-ray detection recommended for the payload on the submersible in this project is that the combination of the information provided by these two radiation types can tell us about the resident radioactivity, the risk of re-criticality and also provide a means for comparison with severe accident calculations to determine what happened to the reactor fuel in the accident.

Our research will influence policy and planning directly through the development of the strategic plan for defueling at Fukushima. The most tangible evidence of this will be an acceleration of the programme so that the plant can reach defuelled status earlier than planned as a result of the ROV platform to be researched in this project, with enormous cost savings.

From this project it is very likely that a prototype will result and this will represent a product that constitutes a commercial opportunity for all submerged applications where there is a need to measure mixed radiation fields; these include Fukushima but wider to all sites with nuclear fuel storage ponds including Sellafield, reactor sites etc. There is also potential for this product outside of the nuclear industry, in oil & gas for the submerged assay of naturally-occurring radioactive material.

Both institutions on this proposal have extensive experience of conceiving and running spin-out businesses, with the pertinent examples being Hybrid Instruments Ltd. and Perceptive Engineering. A further spinout activity is likely from this project and this would have great prospects given the extensive opportunities available across the three plant at Fukushima, the imperative to immobilise wastes from ponds at Sellafield and the closure and defuel of reactors worldwide, not least in the UK. A clear avenue for impact in this regard would be the creation of high-value, high-skilled jobs associated with this activity, spanning in the manufacture of the submersible probes and also in the service that carries out the surveys on nuclear sites & technical consultancy. We would also anticipate a revised or new code of practice associated with the submersible assay of nuclear material to follow as impact, possibly developed in collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory with whom we have strong links. Clearly, the prospect of inward investment from Japan is significant, to consolidate and develop the commercial basis on which the outcome of this project benefits the Fukushima plan, and this would evidence significant commercial impact.

The impact on the wider public would be an accelerated rate of decommissioning of what are usually long-term projects, and a reduction in the cost people have to bear for the maintenance and upkeep of such facilities. This would benefit the wider public in Japan but also would have an impact on the public wherever our technology is used. For example, in West Cumbria the majority of the economy is driven by the very significant public sector investment necessary to support decommissioning the Sellafield site (over half of the expenditure of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's budget, at currently ~£2Bn per year) and there is an important imperative for the regional economy to migrate to private sector investment, as expenditure at the Sellafield site falls. Given submerged fuel debris is a major challenge at sites such as Fukushima, Sellafield etc. with inventories often unknown, this project has the potential to have a significant impact on accelerating the completion of decommissioning activities, reducing public expenditure and shortening decommissioning programmes.

In terms of the wider public, both universities on this project have established schools programmes (in the case of Lancaster Engineering for example funded by the Sir John Fisher Foundation, Smallpeice Trust etc.) into which this project will feed directly. Summer school activities will be developed for students from junior and secondary school to develop their own submersible ROVs, by way of example, with a taught element to encourage them to learn about the Japanese earthquake, Fukushima and the activities the UK is leading such as this.

Researchers and student(s) will of course be trained and educated in the requirements of the Fukushima challenge facing the world, and this will impact them, directing their careers towards this priority.